White House sees need for 'constraints' on NSA spying

US president Barack Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the phone last week following revelations in the media.

Reuters: Kevin Lamarque

President Barack Obama is considering possible constraints on United States intelligence gathering in the wake of reports allies have been spied on, the White House says.

The US is currently holding a "rigorous and ongoing" review of intelligence-gathering procedures, amid increasing protests from European leaders.

Last week the US faced strong criticism over accusations the National Security Agency (NSA) had tapped the mobile phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel and conducted widespread electronic snooping in France and Italy.

"Confidence is vanished," said Elmar Brok, a German member of the European Parliament.

"We have to work hard that confidence is re-established between the leaders, between our people."

US Representative Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said there are misperceptions about what the NSA has been doing, although he acknowledged the EU parliamentarians have legitimate concerns.

"It's important to understand that we're going to have to have a policy discussion that is bigger than any individual intelligence agency of either Europe or the United States," he said.

Speaking about the meeting with EU delegates he said: "It started to identify some of the differences that we have that we're going to have to bridge.

"That's a good start and that's why we've pledged to take a delegation back to Brussels to follow up on this conversation," he said.

Senator 'totally opposed' to NSA spying on US allies

The chairwoman of the US Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, says she is "totally opposed" to the NSA collecting data on US allies.

The senator said unless the US is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, she does not believe it should be monitoring the phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers.

After Mr Obama and Ms Merkel spoke by phone, the White House said the US is not currently tapping her phone and will not in the future.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the NSA ended the program that involved Ms Merkel after the operation was uncovered in a review that began during the (northern) summer.

The program also involved as many as 35 other world leaders, some of whom were still being monitored, the report said.

The US and many lawmakers have defended the NSA programs as crucial to protecting US national security and helping thwart militant plots.

They insist the programs are carefully overseen by Congress and the US legal system.